TABLE 3.

Distribution of ISHp609 in different geographic regions

Strain origin	No. of strains	No. (%) ISHp609 positivea	No. (%) with orf1-2 remnant onlyb
Europe
Lithuania	47	17 (36)	11 (23)
Spain	24	10 (42)	3 (13)
The Americas
Alaska	46	20 (43)	12 (26)
Peru	71	12 (17)	13 (18)
Guatemala	29	8 (28)	6 (21)
Africa	28	3 (11)	11 (39)
South Asia: India	69	11 (16)	14 (20)
East Asia
Japan	71	0	1 (1)
China	47	0	1 (2)
Korea	47	2 (4)	0

^aISHp609-positive strains were identified by PCR with four sets of primers (primers 609.F1 and 609.R1, primers FlankL and 609R3t1, primers FlankL and 609.R5, and primers FlankL and 609.R1 [Table 1]). Thirty-three of 83 ISHp609 elements were truncated, mostly from the right end. PCR tests indicated that 16 of the 83 ISHp609-positive strains also contained the orf1-2 remnant (see below), in each case at the location occupied in strain J99, between jhp959 and jhp962.

^bThe orf1-2 remnant contains orf1, orf2, and the 5′ end of orfA, as in strain J99 (see text). PCR (with primers jhp959 and jhp962, primers jhp959 and 609.R6, and primers FlankL and jhp962) located it between jhp959 and jhp962 in 64 of 72 cases, as in strain J99 (exceptions might have been due to sequence divergence in primer binding sites).